Safety-pocket.



0. D. TRUSSELL.

SAFETY IfOOKBT. APPLICATION FILED APR. 30, 1908.

Patented June 8, 1909.

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CLARENCE D. TRUSSELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SAFETY-POCKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 30, 1908.

Patented June 8, 1909.

Serial No. 430,060.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE D. TRUS- sELL, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Pockets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to safety pockets adapted to be inserted and retained in ordinary pockets of garments.

The obj ect of my invention is to provide a safety pocket at slight cost and of simple construction which may be retained in an ordinary pocket in a garment without the employment of stitching.

My safety pocket is adapted to be fastened with suflicient security to provide against accidental or criminal loss from the pocket; it is also easily opened by the wearer to afford free access when it is desired to insert or remove articles. 1

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side view showing an ordinary pocket of a garment partially cut away to disclose my safety pocket closed and secured in position. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my safety pocket detached from the pocket and in open posi tion to afford access thereto. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one member of the fastening device. Fig. 4 is a similar view of the other member of the fastening device. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 1 illustrating the fastening device in closed position.

Referring to the drawings, 1 re resents the cloth of a garment provided wit the usual pocket 2 having the top opening 3.. The safety pocket 4 is secured within the pocket 2 to the upper edge 3 thereof by means of the removable fasteners 5 which extend through the material of the garment as is indicated in Fig. 1, engaging apertures 6 at each end of the spring strip 7 which is preferably made of spring steel. Secured at the center of the spring strip 7 by the engaging tongues 8 is the fixed member 9 of the fastening device having the horizontal rib 10 as best illustrated in Figs. 2, 4 and 5. Spring strip 11 is arranged opposite to spring strip 7. Secured at the center of the spring strip 11 is the movable member 12 of the fastening device which is pivoted by the pin or rivet 13 to spring strip 11 as best indicated in Fig. 3. The outer end of said movable member 12 is formed as a fork adapted to slip over the fixed member 9. The small boss or knob 14 Will ride over the horizontal rib 10 and retain the fastening device in position of engagement as best indicated in Fig. 5. To open the pocket the finger is placed against the small outwardly bent flange 15 to raise from engaging position the movablemember 12 of the fastening device. The metallic plate 16 is secured to the outer edge of the spring strip 11 at one end by the pin 13. At the other end of the plate 16 a wing 17 therefrom extends inward and downward. The engaging tongues 18 fasten this end of plate 16 in position.

The fabric of which the safety pocket is made is sewed together along its edges in any desired shape as best indicated inv Fig. 2. The fabric extends over and around each of the spring strips 7 and 11 as best indicated in Fig. 5. Each end of the spring strips 7 and 11 is inclosed by the fabric which is thus securely stitched entirely around each spring strip, the stitching, of course, extending beneath the same as indicated in Fig. 2.

At the points 19 where the lower corners of spring strips 7 and 11 meet, the fabric is reinforced by strengthening layers 20 of fabric securely stitched to the structure.

It will be seen that the body of my safety pocket is made of fabric which will lie in the usual pocket and conform to the figure of the wearer and at the same time hold such arti cles as it may be desired to carry therein for safety.

My safety pocket may be readily inserted in the ordinary pocket and secured in position by means of such ordinary fasteners 5 as are customarily employed for binding papers together; and it may be readily removed and transferred for instance to the pocket of another garment.

Fig. 5 of the drawings is considerably exaggerated as regards the thickness and size of the parts there shown. The metal parts should be made as thin as possible so that their aggregate thickness is between one eighth and one-sixteenth of an inch, so as to form a very slight protuberance in the pocket. When the mouth of the safety pocket is closed the spring strips 7 and 11 are held closely together and they should be so flexible that they will follow the contour of the body without showing any irregularities on the outside of the garment.

It will be seen from Fig. 2 that the spring strips 7 and 11 are normally curved in differ- .ent directions, but when held together at the center by the fastening device the strength of each spring will balance the other so that their stiffness in the pocket will not be noticeable or objectionable.

When the fastening device is raised the resiliency of spring strips 7 and 11 causes the mouth of the safety pocket to open as indicated in Fig. 2. This opening will be of a flared. or funnel shape as indicated in Fig. 2, to afford great ease of access to the pocket. As the upper corners of the two spring strips 7 and 11 are not held together by stitching or fabric they will part as indicated in the drawing.

My safety pocket is designed to be marketed as an article of merchandise apart from any garment inasmuch as it is adapted to insertion in any pocket of usual construction. It may, however, be incorporated in the garment itself by stitching when the garment is manufactured.

When my safety pocket is properly in position in an ordinary pocket the wearer will use the safety pocket for valuables, while the ordinary pocket may be used to carry things of less importance, thus permitting the user to subdivide or classify pocket matter in two distinct compartments.

What I claim new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a safety pocket, a pouch, an outwardly curved spring strip extending entirely across the top of the pouch inclosed in the fabric along one side of the mouth of the pouch, both of its ends being free though iuelosed by the fabric, an oppositely curved spring strip similarly secured to the other side of the mouth of the pouch, the two edges of the fabric being unconnected at the ends of the spring strips except at the points 19, and a fastening device to hold the spring strips together to close the pocket.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of New York this 15th 1 day of April A. 1)., 1908.

CLARENCE D. TRUSSELL. Witnesses Joserrr A. STETsoN, RUssEL R. VAUGHN. 

